4/29/2005

BATAKA, Dominica - Sabers rattled and epithets rang across this lush tropical island long before the first crew arrived this month to film the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

Somewhere in the middle of the movie, natives are supposed to capture Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, and spit-roast the swashbuckling pirate with fruits and vegetables "like a shish kebab," said Bruce Hendricks, the Walt Disney Pictures executive in charge of production.

"It's a funny, almost campy sequence," he said of a film also populated by ghost pirates and zombies.

But some of Dominica's Carib inhabitants are offended by what they consider an insinuation that their forebears were cannibals. They have called on the 3,500-strong population that is the last surviving indigenous group in the Caribbean to choose between fleeting fame and tribal honor. Chief Charles Williams asked his community to boycott the project, but most have welcomed the financial infusion.

The group is a minority on Dominica, whose 70,000 people are mostly of African descent. Disney argues that the film is fiction, but Williams says it draws on history. "Pirates did come to the Caribbean in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries," he said. "Our ancestors were labeled cannibals. This is being filmed in the Caribbean."

History books still cast the Caribs as cannibals during the time of the European settlement of the Caribbean that began in the 15th century but didn't reach Dominica, a tiny island in the eastern Caribbean, until 200 years later. But the indigenous people, the chief argues, were defending themselves. "Today, that myth, that stigma is still alive," Williams said, denying that the Caribs ever ate those they vanquished.

As newly elected chief of the Carib Territorial Council, Williams was approached by a delegation of Disney executives in October to discuss Carib collaboration on the film, for which about 400 locals have been hired as grips, caterers, drivers and extras. When the chief learned of the scene depicting Depp's character on the barbecue spit, he said the Caribs would boycott the production.

Other Caribs say the chief is taking offense where none was intended. "He didn't have the right to make that decision for the entire community," said Christabelle Auguiste, the only woman on the seven-member tribal council. She regards the filming of a potential blockbuster in her homeland as an opportunity to show off the island's stunning natural attractions and to raise international consciousness about the Caribs and their traditions.

"Throughout the years, there's been this picture painted of us as cannibals. The fact that some people might have had an arm or a leg in their homes didn't mean they ate people. They were kept as tokens of war," Auguiste said of her ancestors and their clashes with European invaders.

4/27/2005

As part of the UCTP's ongoing effort to continue to expand the resources available within our online archives, we have recently added the 1998 Proclamation of the Council of the City of New York officially establishing United Confederation of Taíno People Day on March 27th.

The text of this historic document acknowledging "the individuals and the organizations who in 1998, with the formation of the United Confederation of Taíno People, made a concerted effort toward an independent action to correct past misconceptions, to improve present circumstances and overcome past difficulties" is now available online for review at:

4/22/2005

Saludos... check out the new pics I took at last Sunday's "FESTIVAL DE LAS INDIERAS".The festival takes place deep in a mountain barrio of Maricao named Indiera Alta, known as the "Last Refuge of the Taino People". This area, along with Indiera Baja, was a reservation where the Spaniards moved the Taino tribes... this is the place where the MtDNA sampling showed the highest percentage of Taino blood.

4/20/2005

Los Angeles, California - On Saturday, April 16th, the first Garifuna Community Forum took place in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of this forum was to address the issues that were affecting the Garifuna community in the area and around the world. “Garinagu” or Garifuna People traveled from New York, Florida, San Diego, Riverside and throughout Los Angeles county to participate.

Representing the Garinagu from St. Vincent, was guest speak Dr. Cadrin Gill. The honorable Mr. Milton Alvarez representing the Guatemalan Consulate in Los Angeles also attended.

It is well known that the Garifuna People share strong linguistic and cultural ties to the Taino People. In an acknowledgement of this tie, UCTP representative John Hu'acan Vidal was honored to be invited to the conference to present on the relationship between the Taino and our Garifuna relatives. As stated by Hu'acan "We are cousins to the Garifuna People and we want to be there".

Dr. Clifford Palacio, a respected Garifuna scholar attend the conference and stated “What impressed me most was the fact that the Taino Race and St. Vincent were represented in addition to Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. That was a great beginning and an auspicious reunion.”

Following the conference Hu’acan stated “I learned so much from all of the speakers and representatives and am looking forward to more and more interaction between the Taino and Garifuna”.

Miami, Florida (UCTP Taino News) - Professor Enid ‘Tati’ Conley (Taino-Arawak), one of our UCTP representatives in the State of Florida has been featured in a Winds of Change article entitled "Careers in Criminal Justice: A Native Perspective." In this interview Tati shares the "impetus to further her education that came from challenges she encountered as a police officer in her earlier years."

Keeping in mind that Tati's distinguished career has progressed while she has the additional responsibility of being a single mother of four children, UCTP President Roberto Mucaro Borrero stated "The UCTP would like to take this opportunity to recognize that [Tati] is truly a positive role model for not only our younger people, but for our entire Nation."

Winds of Change is a premier American Indian-published and nationally distributed full-color magazine with a focus on career and educational advancement for Native people. Articles highlight cross-cultural issues of interest to both Native and non-Native people.

To review the story and for additional information on how you can subscribe to the magazine contact http://www.wocmag.org/ .

4/19/2005

The following UCTP Resolution was adopted on 4/17/05 and was distributed internationally to indigenous organizations, community leaders, State-Governments and United Nations Agencies.

United Confederation of Taíno PeopleOffice of International Relations and Regional CoordinationUCTP Resolution/17/04/2005Adopted on 17 April 2005Reaffirming Our Solidarity with Our Carib Relatives

Whereas: The UNIFIED TAINO PEOPLE and NATION represented by the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP), at the request of our Elders and in an expression of our sovereignty, remain committed to promoting solidarity amongst all Caribbean Indigenous Peoples; And

Whereas: It has come to the attention of the Taíno People, who are Biological and Spiritual Relations and Descendants of the island Carib Peoples, that the Walt Disney Company plans to film a sequel to their film “Pirates of the Caribbean” on the island of Dominica, and that this film intends to depict Carib Peoples as Cannibals; And

Recognizing: That our brother Chief Charles Williams of the Kallinago Carib Nation in Wai’tukubuli (Dominica) has denounced Disney’s intention to portray his people as cannibals and that this stigma and stereotype has been used for over 500 years until today as a form of personal insult and as justification for mistreating his people; And

Also Recognizing: That indigenous community leaders from at least three communities of Caribs, representing Dominica, Trinidad and St. Vincent have publicly voiced their strong objections to this unjust depiction of their People to Disney executives, who continue to be unresponsive in any positive way to the critique; And

Recalling: The union of the Kasike Anakaona and Kaonabo in Kiskeia , and the resistance of Kasike Kasimar and Iaureibo of Bieke, which confirm that Taíno and island Carib Peoples have long been aligned and have fought together against repression and oppression since before and after the Colonization of the Caribbean by Europeans, and that the concept of Caribbean Indigenous cannibalism is as large a myth as is the extinction of Caribbean Indigenous Peoples: Now, therefore

Be it Resolved: That the United Confederation of Taíno People will fully support and promote the proposed International Boycott of the sequel to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ by moviegoers if Disney does not modify the script depicting Caribbean Indigenous Peoples as cannibals.

In Witness whereof, and in accordance with the principles set forth in 1998 Declaration of the United Confederation of Taíno People, I, Roberto Múkaro Borrero have caused the seal of the United Confederation of Taíno People to be affixed this Seventeenth Day of April in the year two thousand and five.

4/16/2005

ROSEAU, Dominica: The Kalinago people of the Carib Territory in Dominica should expect a brand new radio station in their area, come August.

This comes as part of a project implemented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) within the context of organisation's cross-cutting theme entitled: Contribution of information and communication technologies to the development of education, science, and culture and the construction of a knowledge society.

The UNESCO-funded projects that are launched in Dominica are implemented through the National Commission for UNESCO, which is headed by Dr. Alexandra Burton-James.

According to Dr. Burton-James, this new initiative costs about US$20,000. "That includes equipment, training and technical assistance" she said.

The project seeks to address poverty in isolated indigenous communities using integrated community media and the creation of multimedia products as the focus for the sustainable human development strategy.

A number of persons are expected to be employed after the station is fully installed. One person in the Territory has already been pinpointed to run the station.

According to Dr. James, some of the equipment is already on island. A place has already been earmarked for housing the equipment.

The Dominica Broadcasting Station (DBS), along with a number of media-trained persons will be assisting with the training of the Kalinago people. They will be trained in multi-media computing, management, content and programming.

Dr. James said among the issues that the Carib people will be voicing is that of poverty.

Though the project is being fully funded by UNESCO, the Government of Dominica is also playing its part by facilitating high-level technical assistance, allowing duty-free concessions and ensuring the sustainability of the project.

Carib Chief, Charles Williams is pleased about this new development in his community.

UNESCO has also launched similar projects in Belize, Surinam, Indonesia, Australia and Africa.

4/14/2005

Walt Disney Pictures is premising its sequel to its film ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' on the supposed cannibalism of Carib Indians. This is disgusting. It is a bit beyond the time when the present-day children of the Carib people of the Antilles need to be hit in the face, one more time, with the wanton and highly-disputed idea that they descend from cannibals.

Leaders from at least three communities of Caribs - Salybia in Dominica, Santa Rosa in Trinidad and a community in St. Vincent - have registered their strong objections to Disney executives, who have not responded in any positive way to the critique. Scholars and others are adding their voices to the challenge.

While the controversy over the Caribs' alleged cannibalism is as old as the conquest of the Americas, most observers agree that the Disney movie, slated for worldwide audiences, is beyond the pale as a vehicle to inculcate the historical stereotype upon even more generations of Carib and Caribbean children.

Filming of the sequel is scheduled to begin this month in Dominica. Its predecessor, the first production in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series, was a 2003 blockbuster that grossed $653 million worldwide. Some 3,000 Caribs live in the Carib territory on the island of Dominica, which has a population of 70,000. Tens of thousands of Carib descendants, now known as Garifuna, live on the coasts of Belize, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as in the North American diaspora.

Chief Charles Williams of the Carib community in Dominica has denounced the concept of his people being depicted as cannibals. This stereotype has ''stigmatized'' Caribs for 500 years and is still used both as a form of personal insult and as justification for mistreating his people, Williams said; the movie will further ''popularize'' the historical insult against his people.

Among other Native leaders, the chief of the Carib community at Arima in Trinidad, Ricardo Bharath, also strongly condemned the planned movie. He was joined by Adonis Christo, the community's shaman or medicine man. The oral tradition among their people doesn't support cannibalism as a historical fact, they asserted.

''Do you want to know who the real cannibals are?'' Bharath asked the Inter Press Service. ''They are the ones in modern-day society who are eating down our mountains, raping the environment, polluting the waters,'' he said. Stated Christo: ''Our people defended their families and friends. They defended their homes. They defended their lands.''

There are early references by Europeans to ritual cannibalism among the first encounters with the Caribs. But Brinsley Samaroo, head of the History department of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, is among those who believe the claim is largely a European invention of ''manufactured history.''

In the historical record, one finds a letter from a Dr. Chanca, who accompanied Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the Caribbean. Chanca speculated that some young men held prisoners by a Carib group were being fattened to the slaughter for feasting.

Neither the wanton killing and rape by Spanish colonists of the first group of Caribs encountered - recorded during the same trip by others on the ship - nor the Caribs' fierce, valiant defense of their territories and people are apparently proper subjects for a Disney movie.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Historical and Archaeological Society has called for a boycott of the sequel by moviegoers if Disney does not modify the script. Paul Lewis, the society secretary, charged that perpetuating the image of Caribs as cannibals sets back a serious effort in the region to provide a more ''honest share of [Caribbean] history'' to the indigenous people.

The governments of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, who will benefit somewhat from the production activities in their countries, have not objected. In fact, the tourism minister of Dominica has defended the proposed film, which would bring some economic benefits to people on the island and which is, as he put it, only a ''work of fiction.''

Some Caribs, as can be expected, have applied for work as extras in the movie, a fact that has made some crow that this somehow exonerates Disney for its production. But that is all just public relations. Reality is that a huge company like Disney should know better in 2005 than to besmirch a living people with its most negative historical stereotype.

Clearly, Disney moviemakers need to consider the negative impacts of the dramatic storylines they choose to project to such a huge audience. It is not acceptable to create and recreate villains out of Native people while exulting and romanticizing the lives of pirates who in real life were murderers and thieves without regard for anyone. Call it what you may, ''fiction'' or dramatic or poetic license, it smacks of racism to us.

4/02/2005

Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for theTaino News and Information Email group: Should the Taino News and Information Listing share more information than we already post about other Indigenous Nations outside of the Caribbean Communities?

UCTP Taino News Update: Most of you are by now aware of the recent tragedy, which occurred in Northern Minnesota leaving 10 dead and more than a dozen injured in a horrific incident of school-related violence.(See http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/007191.asp )

Many Taíno community members have written the UCTP to request that we all keep these relatives in our hearts and prayers and have forwarded the following information:

Donations for the victims and their families can be sent to:Red Lake Nation Memorial FundP.O. Box 574Red Lake, Minnesota 56671

Concerning this tragedy, Liza O'Reily, a Borikén Taíno who resides in Minnesota states "The people on this land are so sad right now, all Indians, no matter what nation they are from, feel this trauma and hurt. Hold on to the children and listen to them, permit them to speak and tell us how we are needed in their lives."

An online Guest Book for Red Lake Reservation Victims has been created and we urge you all to sign in and send your support for and prayers to our relatives of Red Lake Reservation. You can click on the following linkhttp://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?Id=GB03322917Xor cut and paste the url into your browser's address bar.

Roberto Mukaro Borrero, President presented on the panel "Indigenous Media and the Arts." UCTP.org and Wayuunaiki (a newspaper for the Wayu nation of Venezuela) are recognized among others as best practices in this category (pg.2).

Borrero is selected as a member of the International Indigenous Streeting Committee for WSIS (IISC).

Except from report:

"At the Closing Plenary session of the Indigenous Thematic Planning Conference for Tunisia, the WSIS International Indigenous Steering Committee (IISC) was formed. The IISC is committed to working together to bringing Indigenous peoples to Tunisia for a second Global Forum of Indigenous Peoples and the Information Society, to ensuring a robust and inclusive agenda, and to ensuring the international dialogue regarding Indigenous connectivity does not end with the second phase of WSIS.... Indigenous members of the IISC are as follows: Roberto Borrero and Marcos Terena (Central and South America andCaribbean)..."

United Confederation of Taino People Flag

The UCTP flag represents a Unified Taino Nation reaching out in solidarity across the waters in all the sacred directions to our relations on other islands, lands, and beyond. The flag symbol was oringinally created for the UCTP by artist Marie Nanamaguey Crooke. To purchase a high-quality 3ft x 5ft UCTP flag, please click on the flag image above and scroll down the page to the letter "U" for UCTP. Hahom (Thank you)

UCTP Taino News "Did You Know" Files

Cacibajagua Taino Cultural Society

Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples

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